Now Commenting On:

Reliever Jansen finds answer to dip in velocity

Reliever Jansen finds answer to dip in velocity

LOS ANGELES -- Kenley Jansen solved his mysterious velocity loss this year on the second pitch to Colorado's Jonathan Herrera on Saturday night.

"Somehow, I just figured it out," Jansen said. "I've been telling everybody I'm not hurt. It turned out I wasn't staying through the ball. It came back to me when I threw a two-seamer."

From pitch one to pitch two to Herrera, Jansen's velocity jumped five miles an hour, from 90 to 95. It stayed in the mid-90s for the rest of an 11-pitch inning Saturday and touched 97 Tuesday night, when Jansen struck out a pair but also allowed the tying run.

"Now I'm throwing the two-seamer and cutter, so I have two pitches," said Jansen.

Bullpen coach Ken Howell explained that when pitchers rely on a cutter, as Jansen does, they tend to release on the side of the ball instead of keeping their fingers behind the ball and velocity suffers.

The 25-year-old Jansen, who missed three weeks with an irregular heartbeat, expects to undergo an offseason catheter ablation, in which doctors will make an incision in his groin and, with a flexible tube, seek out and cauterize abnormal tissue that triggers his atrial fibrillation. He's said he's looking at a three-month rehab.